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Wii

Submission + - Does the Wii Alienate You? (computerandvideogames.com)

Submitted by
eldavojohn
eldavojohn writes: "I'm still unable to find a Wii and it's been out for quite sometime. But I found an interesting article about Sega claiming the Wii has been inappropriately written off as being not for 'hardcore' gamers. So I would like to ask Slashdot if they, as members of a gaming community, feel that the Wii is inaccessible because it doesn't offer the time consuming grind of achievements (like the XBox 360) or even the endless single player RPG (like the PS3)? Is it seen as a system purely for the 'casual gamer' and not someone who wants to dump a whole Saturday into progress? Is it's popularity based on this image? I remember the backbreaking days I put into Gauntlet & Bionic Commando, has Nintendo forgotten the games that require hours and hours of practice and finesse? Is this a side effect of the occasionally glitchy and not too precise wiimote?"
Portables (Apple)

Submission + - What Would you Ask Steve Jobs?

Submitted by
Pickens
Pickens writes: "Chris Howard has an interesting post at Apple Matters where he posits the hypothetical: what would you say to Steve Jobs if you had five minutes with him? Howard says he would first thank Jobs for holding on to the vision that good design is important in computer hardware and software but then he's ask for more USB ports on the back of Macs, an ergonomic keyboard, and a more affordable iPhone plan. "You might want to talk about the '70s, life in the wilderness, Pixar, his top five management secrets or whatever, but, despite my best intentions, I guess I'd probably just babble on like an average user," adds Howard. What would you ask Steve Jobs if you had five, or maybe ten minutes with him?"
The Media

Submission + - Technology Journalist Exposed as Plagiarist (jasonunger.com) 2

Submitted by
cheatersneverprosper
cheatersneverprosper writes: "David Richards, the editor and publisher of Australian-based technology site SmartHouse, has been exposed as a plagiarist. Richards copied stories from American technology publications like TWICE, PC World and CE Pro, but claims he didn't do it. His excuse? "Hackers" looking to discredit him have been posting stories under his byline ... since 2006. And he just found out about it in February 2008."
Microsoft

Submission + - Brussels to probe votes on Microsoft standard

Submitted by spectrokid
spectrokid writes: Officials at the European Commission's competition directorate have written to members of the International Organisation for Standardisation, asking how they prepared for votes in September and this month on acceptance of Microsoft's OOXML document format as a worldwide standard. Without ISO acceptance, Microsoft could stand to lose business, particularly with government clients, some of which are becoming increasingly keen to use only ISO-certified software.
The Courts

Should RIAA Investigators Have To Disclose Evidence? 216

Posted by Zonk from the special-rules-for-special-people dept.
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "A technology battle is raging in UMG v. Lindor, a court case in Brooklyn. The issue at hand is whether the RIAA's investigator SafeNet (the company that acquired MediaSentry) now needs to disclose its digital files, validation methodology, testing procedures, failure rates, software manuals, protocols, packet logs, source code, and other materials, so that the validity of its methods can be evaluated by the defense. SafeNet and the RIAA say no, claiming that the information is 'proprietary and confidential'. Ms. Lindor says yes, if you're going to testify in federal court the other side has a right to test your evidence. A list of what is being sought (pdf) is available online. MediaSentry has produced 'none of the above'. 'Put up or shut up' says one commentator to SafeNet."
Programming

Submission + - What are the best programming blogs?

Submitted by
anthroguy
anthroguy writes: "I've been reading Slashdot for years and enjoy it as a cross-reference for nerdy news, but I'm wondering something: what are the best blogs on programming — or otherwise — on the internet at the moment that we should all be reading (to submit to Slashdot, if worthy, of course)?"
Moon

NASA Plans to Smash Spacecraft into the Moon 176

Posted by samzenpus from the hit-it-hard dept.
djasbestos writes "NASA is planning to smash a spacecraft into the Moon in order to look for hydrogen deposits in the poles. More notably, it will impact with significantly greater force (100x, per the article) than previous Moon collisions, such as by the Lunar Prospector and Smart-1 probes. Admiral Ackbar was unreachable for comment as to the exact location and size of the Moon's thermal exhaust port."
Security

Submission + - Chip and PIN vulnerable to attack, again!

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Now-infamous University of Cambridge security researchers Ross Anderson, Saar Drimer, and Steven Murdoch, who last year showed us Tetris on a payment terminal, have now shown how a paperclip can be used to bypass the UK banks' snake-oil "tamper-resistance" in their paper at the IEEE Security and Privacy conference (PDF link). Why does this matter? Because the banks were sticking their customers with the bills when cloned cards were used, since the system was supposed to be invulnerable. Despite the banks' claims, the devices weren't even certified! The BBC featured the attack on the news last night. Hopefully this will lead to thousands of customers getting their money back.
Cellphones

Submission + - Bill could force Apple, AT&T to unlock iPhone 1

Submitted by quantumghost
quantumghost writes: When T-Mobile began selling Apple's iPhone in Germany last fall, a legal skirmish ensued, forcing the wireless carrier to sell it untethered to a contract — at $1,460, no less. T-Mobile eventually persuaded a court that the two-year contract was legal. Now that same kind of European rule would be imported into the United States — meaning AT&T would be legally required to sell a contract-free iPhone — if a new Democratic proposal in the U.S. House of Representatives becomes law.

http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9879554-7.html
The Military

Submission + - VG Software Models Crowds In Military Simulator (gamecritics.com)

Submitted by
Brandon Erickson
Brandon Erickson writes: "While videogame technology has been used before to model enemy behavior in military training simulations, it has yet to be applied to modeling the behavior of noncombatants in warzones. But that's all about to change thanks to Dr. Frederick McKenzie and his colleagues, whose research is presented in the March issue of Simulation & Gaming. Their work, sponsored by the Defense Modeling and Simulation Office, the Air Force Research Laboratory, and the Joint Forces Command, uses the commercially available AI.implant software to incorporate realistic crowd behavior into a military simulator."
Businesses

How Do You Find Programming Superstars? 763

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the can't-beat-a-human-signal-to-noise-filter dept.
Joe Ganley writes "You are a programming superstar, and you are looking for work. I recognize this happens relatively rarely, which is part of my problem. But stipulating that it happens, how do I, as a company looking to hire such people, connect with them? Put another way, how do you the programming superstar go about looking for a company that seems like one you'd like to work for? The company I work for is a great place to work; we only hire really great people, we work on hard, interesting problems, and we treat our employees well. We aren't worried about retention or even about how to entice people to work here once we've found them. The problem is simply finding them. The signal-to-noise ratio of the big places like Monster and Dice is terrible. We've had much better luck with (for example) the Joel on Software job boards, but that still doesn't generate enough volume." What methods have other people used to find the truly elite?
Security

Submission + - Strong passwords prohibited 1

Submitted by
Atario
Atario writes: "This post and thread over at The Daily WTF made me realize I was not the only one experiencing a strange phenomenon: the prohibition of strong passwords by the very sites that most need them — financial institutions. A quick Google search reveals that the observation is also far from new. We're talking short maximum lengths, smashing case, disallowing special characters (really freaky ones like "!" or "."), and so on. Yet most of them seem to realize requiring both numbers and letters is a Good Thing. What is going on here?"
Music

Submission + - Swedish Record Labels Back Filesharing

Submitted by
Klatoo55
Klatoo55 writes: "A coalition of seven independent record labels in Sweden has joined to form The Swedish Model, a pro-filesharing discussion platform that seeks to restore focus on music and develop a coherent business model to take the music industry into the years to come. Torrentfreak shares some additional info on the site as well as interviews with the labels involved."

Submission + - Poll; Do you still use tape drives?

Submitted by
Digimer
Digimer writes: "Four year ago I began writing an open-source backup program. I made the decision back then that I would not support tape drives, as I felt they were obsolete in the face of cheap, large "disk" storage. As I began demo'ing the first version a couple years ago, the most frequent question I got was "Does it support tape drives?".

Now, I am writing the next version. So I want to ask Slashdot to help me with a very formal, scientific poll:

1. Do you use tape drives?
2. If you were looking at a new backup solution, would you want it to support tape drives?"
Censorship

Submission + - Danish ISP Tele2 appeals piratebay.org ruling (tele2.dk)

Submitted by
gronbaek
gronbaek writes: "Tele2 has decided to appeal against the 29 January 2008 ruling by the Frederiksberg Bailiffs Court which led to Tele2 blocking customer access to the Swedish website, thepiratebay.org.

"If ISPs are required to block their customers' access to the Internet, there must be crystal clear guidelines. We are gradually moving into a grey area in which ISPs may in future have to prevent customer access to legal content on the Internet without there being absolute clarity about the legal basis," concludes Nicholai Pfeiffer.

Following Tele2's appeal against the Court's ruling, the case will now be heard before the High Court."

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